Lecturer

Human Geography, Environmental Social Science, Qualitative Methodologies, Sustainable Consumption, Animal Geographies

Phone: +61 (0)2 612 50348
Fax: + 61 (0)2 6125 0746
E-mail: Kersty.Hobson@anu.edu.au

Kersty studied Anthropolgy for both her BA Hons (Durham University, UK) and MPhil (University of Cambridge).  After a few years of public sector work and travel, she undertook a PhD in Geography at University College London, where her research focussed on household sustainable consumption and environmental politics.  Whilst studying for her PhD, she was also an active member of her department's environmental consultancy unit, which undertook projects into public participation in environmental decision making and urban sustainable development policy - interests she still pursues in her work today.  Since completing her PhD in 2001 she has held academic positions at both the University of Birmingham (UK) and the Australian National University. 

Professional Activities

Kersty's research focuses on how contemporary environmental issues (e.g. personal and aggregate consumption, climate change) are perceived, acted on and shaped in society.  For example, her PhD research in the UK and subsequent research in Australia has examined how individuals attempting to alter their domestic consumption practices come to understand and change these practices in light of a plethora of contemporary issues.   She has written on sustainability policy and research agendas in the UK, Australia and the Asia-Pacific; and enjoys intersecting eclectic social theories with pressing environmental issues.  She has also conducted research into environmental NGO's in Singapore; as well as the politics of animal welfare in Hong Kong.

Kersty's current research is part of a multi-disciplinary research team exploring responses to climate change in the Australian Capital Territory.  She is on the editorial board on the journals Geoforum and Sustainability: Science, Policy and Practice (see http://ejournal.nbii.org): and is also is a member of the ANU's Delegated Research Ethics Committee.

Selected Academic Highlights

2008-2010: ARC Discovery Award DP0879092 Social Adaptation to Climate Change in the Australian Public Sphere: A comparison of individual and group deliberative responses to scenarios of future climate change (with Dr SJ Niemeyer; Dr P Hart; Dr KP Hobson; Prof W Steffen; Prof BG Mackey; Dr JA Lindesay)       

2006: Australia-China Council Residency Award

2003/4: UK Economic and Social Research Council Environment and Human Behaviour New Opportunities Programme: 'Predicting Thresholds of Social Behavioural Responses to Rapid Climate Change' with Prof J. I. Petts, Dr S. J. Niemeyer and Dr G. M. McGreggor (The University of Birmingham).

Selected Publications

Hobson, K. (2008) Reasons to be cheerful: thinking (sustainably) in a climate changing world.  Geography Compass 2 (1): 199-214

Hobson, K. (2007) So we are all environmentalists now? (editorial) Geoforum 38 (6): forthcoming

Hobson, K. (2007) Political animals? On animals as subjects in an enlarged political geography.  Political Geography 26 (3): 250-267

Hobson, K. (2006) Environmental psychology and the geographies of ethical and sustainable consumption: aligning, triangulating, challenging?, Area 38(3): 292-300

Hobson, K. (2006) Bins, bulbs and shower timers: on the 'techno-ethics' of sustainable living, Ethics, Place and Environment 9(3): 335-354

Hobson, K. (2006) Enacting environmental justice in Singapore: performative justice and the Green Volunteer Network, GeoForum 37 (5): 671-681

Hobson, K. (2006) Environmental responsibility and the possibilities of pragmatist-orientated research, Social and Cultural Geography 7(2): 283-298

Niemeyer, S., Petts, J., and Hobson, K. (2005) Rapid climate change and society; assessing responses and thresholds, Risk Analysis 25(6): 1443-1456

Hobson, K. (2004) Researching 'sustainable consumption' in Asia-Pacific cities, Asia Pacific Viewpoint 45 (2): 279-288

Hobson, K. (2003) Consumption, Sustainability and Geography in Australia: A missing research agenda?, Australian Geographical Studies 41 (2): 148-155.

Hobson, K. (2003) Thinking Habits into Action: the role of knowledge and process in questioning household consumption practices, Local Environment 8 (1):  95-112

Hobson, K. (2002) Competing Discourses of Sustainable Consumption: does the 'rationalisation of lifestyles' make sense?, Environmental Politics 11 (2): 95-120.  Reprinted in Jackson, T. (ed.) 2006, The Earthscan Reader in Sustainable Consumption.  Earthscan, London